In the midst of the race for marks, promotion to the next class and admission into good educational institutions, the pursuit of a hobby is usually left out. Hobbies are not exactly a priority for Indian parents who are more fixated on their children securing a job, earning and getting married. Even those children who pursue their hobbies end up being pressurised into competing, which defeats the very purpose and objective of the activity.
One of the main reasons why people don’t focus on hobbies is that they are often mistaken for activities of entertainment and amusement. They tend to be considered a waste of time and a distraction. This misunderstanding needs to be addressed first.
Entertainment versus hobby
Cambridge Dictionary defines hobby as “an activity that someone does for pleasure when they are not working”. The definition of entertainment is “shows, films, television or other performances or activities that entertain people, or a performance of this type” and that of entertain is “to keep a group of people interested or enjoying themselves”.
Prima facie it appears that there is no significant difference between a hobby and entertainment. However the key difference lies in the word ‘activity’. One needs to be fully involved and engaged when pursuing a hobby, whereas they can afford to be passive while entertaining themselves. For example, a person interested in collecting stamps will have to be well-informed on the topic and put in effort to pursue it. The same person when pursuing entertainment in the form of watching a television show can afford to lean back and be completely passive with regard to the same.
Hobbies are an excellent avenue to channelize creativity, passion and interest. This by itself makes the pursuit of any hobby extremely important and should be a part of everyone’s life. There are multiple examples of people who pursued their hobby and became so good at it that it also became their vocation and source of income.
In such cases the old saying “do something you like and you will never have to work even a single day of your life” is very true. The difference between a job and a hobby is linked to pressure and stress. In the case of almost every job, the pressure on a person comes from external sources like their boss, colleagues, etc. This tends to build up and affect the person’s emotional and physical state.
In the case of a hobby the same amount of effort can become enjoyable. This is mainly because there is no external pressure. Apart from this, hobbies are excellent stress busters as they give the doer a sense of satisfaction and pleasure.
Take up a hobby
The related question is why can’t entertainment be a substitute for hobby?
This is again linked to the passive nature of entertainment as compared to the active involvement in the case of a hobby. A person watching a movie for entertainment can still think about something else, worry and continue to be stressed. This is because entertainment does not require the person’s active engagement. On the other hand the same person would be fully involved when pursuing a hobby. This is the main reason why everyone should develop a hobby in life.
If you do not have a hobby, discover one immediately and start pursuing the same.